Computer vendors' site layout

[Falstaff]

Toshiba just changed the layout of their site to a really annoying format. Does anyone else here feel that dividing a computer site up into different sections (Home/Small Business/Government/Enterprise) is very annoying? Why is it that those companies feel they know what every user in every field needs? Dell and HP also use this same format. I just wanted to vent my opinion and see if anyone else thought this was annoying. I know many people here are techies like me, and like to examine all possibilities. It's a pain when I try to search around for PDAs or Laptops on these sites because I end up having 4 or 5 windows open for each company because I want to see ALL their devices! Grrr.... </rant>
:soapbox:

[The Yaz]

Or better yet, when you price out the same computer on Dell between home office/small business/government and the small business model always comes out the cheapest...

For those of us who are comfortable with computers, this situation makes me feel like Dell is doing the shell game on the public in general.

Steve 8)

[Kati Compton]

Yes - I hate it. Like I hate "<tech item>s for Gaming, <tech item>s for Productivity, <tech item>s for Entertainment", etc.

And what if I'm using something for Gaming AND Business??? Argh. Now I'm upset about this again. It makes me mad whenever I need (get) to buy anything techie.

I just want to see all the models and decide for myself based on *specs*.

[Janak Parekh]

I just want to see all the models and decide for myself based on *specs*.
Of course, we techies aren't the target market of such makeovers. :| Quite frankly, they should have a "techie" site where they just have a raw list of products.

--janak

[Pat Logsdon]

I just want to see all the models and decide for myself based on *specs*.
Of course, we techies aren't the target market of such makeovers. :| Quite frankly, they should have a "techie" site where they just have a raw list of products.
Totally agree. At least give me a link to the site map on the main page, for cryin' out loud! As terrible as the IBM site is, at least they have a search field at the top.

I think too many designers these days confuse "spartan" with "usable". Forcing visitors down a narrow path is frustrating, especially if the visitor doesn't have a high degree of confidence that they're going to be taken to the right place. :roll:

As far as I'm concerned, Amazon is still the model for the most usable design. Decent taxonomy + powerful search = happy user.

[Falstaff]

I really like the search ability on Buy.com and Newegg. One thing about both that I wish was in place, is the ability to search for things in terms of greater than or equal to or less than or equal to. If I want a laptop somewhere in the 1.5-1.8 GHz range, that requires checking all the 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, and 1.8 systems seperately. I think it would be incredibly easy for the big companies to list everything in one place, it's not like every product was entered in HTML, it's all easy to use database stuff. Until those companies get their sites better organized and searchable, Buy.com, Newegg, and other such sites will remain the best and easiest places for techies to use.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I just want to see all the models and decide for myself based on *specs*.
Of course, we techies aren't the target market of such makeovers. :| Quite frankly, they should have a "techie" site where they just have a raw list of products.

--janak

I agree totally. These sites are designed for the buyers who, when asked what the ended up buying, say "It's got a giga-thingee and some mega-stuff."

We need the numbers. Post a link to the raw parts catalogue and we'd be happy.

[Janak Parekh]

I really like the search ability on Buy.com and Newegg.
Well, Newegg is designed for techies. One of my absolute favorite features about Newegg is the screenshots and specs lists -- they have details of nearly every single product. I find that especially helpful when looking at different mainboards. But plop an ordinary end-user in front of Newegg, and they'll space out before long. ;)

--janak

[Falstaff]

I really like the search ability on Buy.com and Newegg.
Well, Newegg is designed for techies. One of my absolute favorite features about Newegg is the screenshots and specs lists -- they have details of nearly every single product. I find that especially helpful when looking at different mainboards. But plop an ordinary end-user in front of Newegg, and they'll space out before long. ;)

--janak

Plus, on Newegg (in Summary view) you can choose which fields you want displayed and how many pixels wide they should be, which is very nice. I completely agree though, Newegg is for techies, but don't we spend a lot on computers and accessories so that manufacturers would try to cater to us? Or do they know that we mostly shop around for the cheapest price....

[dh]

I always hated this on the Dell site, especially because the pricing varies between the different sections.
The other day I was look at Thinkpads and noticed IBM has done the same thing as well I couldn't be bothered to check how the pricing changed. All very annoying.

[buckyg]

Yes, I also hate the different pricing, downloads, etc. based on whether it's for the retail, small business, enterprise, etc. This is especially true when you would get entirely different results for the same machine.

I see HP appears to have fixed it with their iPAQs, at least the 545x models. Used to be that if you tried to get to the software update page for the 5450, you got an option between PPC2002 and WM2003. If you chose the 5455, you only could get PPC2002 updates. They're the SAME machine, one was for retail, the other for business. This drove me insane, since I always forgot to bookmark the 5450 page.